Friday, 30 January 2015

The racing season is fast approaching (April 12th) and here is your opportunity to own and race this fantastic piece of recumbent engineering.
I have reduced the original asking price to £1,000, which for a bike of this stature and ready to race out of the box, so to speak, is a fantastic price, IMHO.

Sold!Thank you for Looking ;-)For Sale! Reduced Price!

£1,150.00 ONO / best offer!£1,000.00

Payment either by Bank transfer to Nationwide account, cash in hand or Paypal (please add 3.4% to total to cover paypal fees unless sending monies as to a friend)

If you are interested in this item please contact me via:

knotty dot bear at gmail dot com

Thank you for looking!

Take care,

Barry ;-)

Here I have for sale my Cuckoo Raaa low racer and Cuckoo Raaaa fairing.This bike was originally built by Dave Tigwell, AKA The Pasty Man! a Blacksmith from Cornwall, The Cuckoo Raaa is an amalgamation of Carbon Fibre, Hand formed Steel and Various quantities of Alloy.

Cuckoo Raaa, actually Pronounced Cuckoo Ray! and still the same no matter how many A's you add at the end, is a Cornish term meaning something out of the ordinary or something very different, and this bike is definitely a little bit Cuckoo Raaa!

I am selling this bike and fairing as my plans of getting to as many races as possible completely failed this year, just like the last year and the year before that! my plan had been to attend at least half the races this year but due to work, lack of transport, willing lifts and other biking / triking holidays, I have come to the conclusion that owning a full on Racing machine and only using it twice a year is a bit of a waste, and someone much more talented and race worthy might make a better job of keeping The Pasty Man's silver machine in action.I would also like to save some pennies towards, and make space for a new tandem bike in my now overcrowded storage facility :-D

This bike is fully and properly set up and adjusted and is ready to race today! with no further tinkering or twiddling needed, unless you want to of course!

Me, Racing the Cuckoo Raaa at Hillingdon earlier this year.

The Details:

The front boom / wheel arch of Cuckoo Raaa consists of a hand formed light gauge steel shell, which was formed of flat sheet hand beaten around steel moulds of the frame, made in two halves and then brazed together.

The aerodynamic shaping of the front end is all carbon over structural foam I did this after stripping the frame back to bare metal and lengthening the frame to fit me, Dave seemed to have quite short legs as another owner of a previous model has also done the same to theirs.

this process can easily be reversed or the frame can be lengthened even more if wished with not too much work as the lengthening section is bonded in rather than being welded or brazed.

you can see a picture here of the rebuilding of the Cuckoo Raaa whilst shaping the foam and test fitting parts already made.

The rest of the bike is made from Carbon fibre over a foam core, the front section being bonded into this carbon rear section.

The front fork is Carbon and Alloy with steel drop outs.

The flip up tiller is Alloy and Steel.

The bike is front wheel drive and has a very interesting drive system, the cranks drive a 50t ring on the left side, leading back to a 30t ring, this then passes through the frame via a second bottom bracket to a double ring set driving an 8 speed cassette, the bike has 16 gears and a very good range.

The gears are changed via a modified Sram grip shift to the XT dérailleur, and a hand operated front dérailleur manages the two main drive gears quite easily.

This is a very strange set up but it works exceptionally well and the multiplying action of the two chain drives makes the small wheel seem like it has the same gear spread as a much larger wheel.

This drive system is very adaptable and can run a 9 speed cassette with a 9 speed shifter on the same wheel and using the same XT dérailleur.

The Brake is a Hope, hydraulic disc set up which I have serviced and bled today before going for a little ride to make sure all is good.

There is a faired mirror on the right handle bar and this is quickly installed / removed via a thumb screw should you with to take it off.

Both wheels feature Ceconite fairings which is both very light and durable, and does not sag in the wet like nylon can.

Rear tyre is a Schwalbe Durano and the front is a Schwalbe Stelvio, I also include a brand new Schwalbe Kojak tire and two new inner tubes in the sale!

There is a computer mount on the bars for which I have the computer somewhere, but was not available for the pictures, I will find it though.

The cranks are 150mm, (the pedals pictured will not be included with the sale but are available for test rides if needed).

The seat pad and heat rest are made from airmesh material made by me.

There is a flag pole which inserts in the tail section for riding on the road safely, the Kernow flag that Dave used to have on the bike he kept so you can add your own should you wish to.

The rear of the bike was rebuilt by me to fit my helmet better and improve the shape.

The fairing is not fitted at the moment but should you wish to use it, the fairing slides over the seat from the rear and is screwed to the seat so a very solid fixing.

The fairing is carbon fibre over polystyrene, which could be hollowed out even more to make even lighter that it already is.

The seat may need to small cut outs to help with the fitting of the fairing and these can be seen in the seat rear if you wish to re-cut them as they were filled in by Dave after deciding to not use the fairing any more.

If I missed anything please feel free to ask!

Please see all the pictures for a full 360 visual examination.

I am more than happy to have anyone come visit me and examine the Cuckoo Raaa without obligation. I am in the Heathrow Villages area Hillingdon, Middlesex.
As there is a BHPC meet in Hillingdon on the 19th October it may be a good opportunity to visit me either prior the races or after, the bike will not be coming to the race, but I could arrange it to be there if a serious buyer wanted to race it there.

Sold!

Thank you for Looking ;-)

Payment either by Bank transfer to Nationwide account, cash in hand or Paypal (please add 3.4% to total to cover paypal fees unless sending monies as to a friend)

About Me

My name is Barry Brown, I am a Rope & Canvas Craftsman and Net Maker, based in the South East of England.
I make mostly one off, Unique and traditionally hand crafted pieces of practical art work, using rope, twine, canvas, sometimes leather and pretty much anything you can tie a knot in.
Some of the items I have made include bags, hammocks, bell ropes, jewellery, rope mats, knife and whistle lanyards, chest beckets, various type of fishing nets and other netted items.
Some of these items have been crafted by hand using the traditional tools as used by the Sailmaker, Rigger and Sailor during the age of the tall ship, some of the tools I use I have custom made, Just as the Sailmaker, Rigger or Sailor may have done, I have placed a few of these in the Tools section on my web site for your interest.
The nets I have made are all hand braided using the same methods and tools that have been used over the past thousand years and longer, the only difference being the use of more modern materials in the making of some of the twines and tools.